A Whore No More

I've been making DVDs since 2004. During the years since, I've experimented with several different types of marketing gimmicks. With the chaser DVD market being so small, I've always tried to discover ways to expand that demographic. Partly because I've needed the money much of the time, and partly because advertising/marketing has always been an interest of mine (though I seem to suck at it). Throughout my experiences, I've learned two things: (1) my ideas don't work, but (2) it's not because they're all necessarily bad.

I've spent year after year scratching my head, trying to understand what I've been doing wrong. Despite its small target audience, the chaser highlights video seems a product poised to expand its viewership, with the right promotional backing. I've done discount pricing, worldwide free shipping (real free shipping, not the shipping absorbed into the unit price), multiple item discounts, and even a box set discount. I've promoted on social media, weather forums, this blog, and even physical advertising with decals on my vehicle. My videos have been pushed by others as well on several different mediums. All to no avail. I was to the point where I thought perhaps the fly in the ointment was actually me. After all, there seemed to be no other explanation for my sales to falter while others' offering similar products flourished. But these days, I don't believe I'm relevant enough to chasing for that to even factor in. So, what's left?

My conclusion, after years of analyzing, researching, and idea crunching, is simple. The gimmicks, promotions, and other marketing ploys fail simply because the people who buy my DVDs do so because they want the DVDs, period. They aren't attracted by flashy sales or silly promotions or discounts. They're attracted to the product itself.  All this time I've felt I was failing to reach my maximum audience, but I wasn't. I've been reaching it the entire time. It's just very small.

So from that, I've decided to pull all of the bells and whistles and extras from my DVD sales page. It was a lot of extra work for me, with no payoff. I don't regret doing it, because I believed at the time it was the right idea. I believed I could expand my audience purely through exposure. But another thing I've learned through internet marketing is, the notion that increased traffic equals increased sales is a myth. Numbers don't count unless they are within your demographic, and the chaser video is a product that naturally attracts its own audience, with minimal promotion. The type of people who want a discount, a sale, a gimmick, aren't the kind of people who will buy a chaser DVD...at least one of mine.

Perhaps the best part of this is, I no longer have to promote my videos, with the exception of future new releases. Almost anyone who would purchase a video knows they exist, and those who don't, will likely find them through internet searches on "tornadoes" or "tornado videos" or "tornado chasing websites". I'll admit, I do feel a twinge of actual shame each time I promote my product, because it's against my nature to "sell out" or "whore" anything. But when trying to expand your audience, this is a must. I felt the shame, but at the same time thought to myself: "I have to at least try."  Fortunately, I no longer have to do that. The good news for you all is, no more annoying posts from me about DVDs.